The Silent Migraine Symptom I Hate Most

Written and verified by Holly Hazen

The silent migraine symptom I hate most is nausea. No, wait, it’s the right side of my face swelling up so I can’t see out of my eye any longer. The pressure, the confusion...

No... no it’s definitely the vomiting! 

In case you don't know this, silent migraines have similar symptoms to the classic migraine but they miss the pain phase.

In most cases these silent symptoms alone are enough to put the us migraine sufferers in bed for hours or days.

I have found that the symptoms all by themselves can be as disruptive and disabling to your every day life.

As I said my symptom I hate most is the nausea and then the vomiting. Well, it could be a tie between my face swelling up so much on the right side that you can no longer see my eye is there.

I know I am in for a bad one when that happens. But I do not get silent migraines, I always get the pain phase. A friend of mine told me that he just gets the zig zag bolts of lightening in his field of vision, but it just goes away after an hour or so. No pain and no disruption to working. Lucky man!

I noticed the zig zag bolts about a year later and was thankful that he mentioned the nervous system disturbance underlying it. Otherwise I am sure it would have frightened me. I don't handle scary health stuff very well at all these days.

So, I think the dizziness that comes before the nausea and throwing up always makes me think I have a brain tumor or something.

I know something is wrong, and really have to tell myself it is just a migraine. I think that is the silent migraine symptom I hate the most.

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It's Hard to Pick Just One Silent Migraine Symptom I Hate

You can have any number or any combination of symptoms with this condition, you may not just have one. More than likely it is possible that you could experience different symptoms with different migraine attacks.

The physical symptoms can look like:

I think I hate all of these emotional symptoms that can accompany my migraines. If I had to pick the silent migraine symptom I hate most from this list, I think it would be the irritability and mood changes. Just for my partners sake!

• confusion, inability to concentrate

• amnesia, forgetfulness

• irritability

• mood changes

• euphoria (I wish!)
  
  

The aura phase also has silent migraine symptoms. You can read all of them here on migraine aura symptoms.

The list continues...

• Scary vision changes, flashing lights, blind spots, seeing things that aren't really there. 

• Hearing things miles away, or a dog whistle in the distance.

• Smelling things that aren't there. 

• Tingling hands, weakness in my arms and overall clumsiness.

• Dizziness and difficulty remembering and saying words.
  
  

The symptom I hate most is blurry vision. Because it causes my clumsiness and that hurts!

It might be possible, now that I make these lists that I hate all the symptoms, that some are tolerable without the pain.

Please click on this link if you would like some coping tips for silent migraine.

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It Will Help Immensely If You Can Plan Ahead for An Attack. Here's What I Do...

Try to plan ahead for your next attack so you can be prepared.

The best way I have found to cope with my nasty migraine symptoms is to get to bed asap.

I take my medication at the earliest warning signal, grab an ice pack to put my head on, and go to my nice, quiet, dark, bedroom.

I also think being proactive is important, so I do things like:

• biofeedback training,

• have regular acupuncture,

• meditate and do yoga to help in between episodes.
  
  

I try to avoid ALL my known food triggers, rotate my diet regularly and take targeted migraine supplements.

I use blackout curtains to keep my bedroom dark, and I have a selection of CD's on my MP3 player to listen to for calming down my nervous system.

This is my favorite CD to help me stay calm and thus reduce my symptoms significantly - Psychosomatic Wellness by Candace Pert.

Symptoms vary so much between migraine sufferers that it can make it hard for generalist doctors (GP, MD) to diagnose us easily.

Getting the right diagnosis is really important to help you deal effectively with your unique set of symptoms. What type of migraine you have will determine what kind of treatment you will need.

In this case of the silent migraine symptom, the most commonly recommended treatment is to rest or sleep off the symptoms. If your symptoms are worse that that, please see your doctor.

For more information read migraine vs headache, it's one of my favorite articles. 

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_{Reference: WedMD (2015) What are Silent Migraines? Available [Online] at: http://www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/what-are-silent-migraines   Accessed July 2, 2016. Updated Dec. 26,2020}

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